Mark Thomas

Mark Thomas - The editor and big chief of The Dubrovnik Times. Born in the UK he has been living and working in Dubrovnik since 1998, yes he is one of the rare “old hands.” A unique insight into both British and Croatian life and culture, Mark is often known as just “Englez” or Englishman. He is a traveller, a current affairs freak and a huge AFC Wimbledon fan.

May is traditionally a very warm month of the year with pleasant temperatures and sunny days but this year it is colder than average. According to the weather data the first half of May was much colder than average in the Mediterranean and Southeast Europe. Just to remind you, last year we had summer temperatures over 30°C in some parts of Croatia already in May.

This heat wave in the coastline region brought a real summer to the continental regions. But apart from this incredible warm weather cities in the continent had one more problem to fight with – mosquitoes! There were swarms of these little summer pests which are usually not frequent at this time of the year. On the other hand, last year also brought some cold weather with heavy rain that chilled the air and temperatures plummeted to only 10°C.

According to the weather data three years ago Croatia measured the lowest air temperature in May at St Jure peak (the Biokovo mountain), only -3°C whilst at Zavižan (the Velebit mountain)the temperature was -2°C. All regions in Croatia measured air temperatures much lower than average for that time of the year. For instance, the highest air temperature of 13°C was measured in Dubrovnik but Split measured only 8.6°C on the 26th of May what was 2.1°C lower than the lowest daily minimum ever measured in Croatia since 1991.

We can only hope that the bad weather is behind us now and expect a nice and pleasant summer.

With our inside information and local knowledge The Dubrovnik Times not only brings you news and views but also travel tips. Here are our TOP 6 Dubrovnik travel tips for this week.

#1 A bus ticket in Dubrovnik costs 15 Kuna on the bus and 12 Kuna at the kiosks.

#2The walk on the City walls usually lasts from ninety minutes to two hours. Wear comfortable shoes, take a bottle of water and avoid the hottest hours of the day.

#3 The Dubrovnik Cable Car whisks you to the top of the Srd Mountain in under five minutes. Price for an adult return ticket is 140 Kuna and 60 Kuna for children. Why not get a single ticket up the mountain and walk down. The pathway is good and the walk to the Old City takes aroound 40 minutes.

#4 The "Green Market" in the Gundulic Square in Dubrovnik opens from the break of dawn until exactly midday. Fresh fruit and vegetables all locally grown. As the bell tower rings twelve o'clock the pigeons are fed in the square.

#5 The Dubrovnik Card is a unique pass allowing entry into 8 cultural-historical monuments, the top attractions of Dubrovnik. Depending on the length of stay, you can buy 3 types of cards: 1, 3 or 7 days. By purchasing a Dubrovnik Card, you will get a bus card that is valid throughout the city of Dubrovnik and some discounts too. You can buy it in tourist board offices, hotels, etc. but the easiest way is online - where you also get 10 percent off.

#6 When booking plane ticket to Dubrovnik reserve a seat on the left hand side of the plane. On arrival you will have a superb view over the Old City of Dubrovnik, whilst the right hand side of the plane will be left to look at the endless blue of the Adriatic Sea.

It's no secret that Croatians are wine lovers, but the new list of the Wine Institute shows that they are one of the top wine drinkers in the world.

While Vatican City is absolute winner with an average resident consuming an impressive 54,24 liters a year, Croatia won a bronze medal and ended up on the third place, with 44,20 liters. No need to be surprised – Croatian wines are known around the world because of their taste and quality, maybe that's why Croatians like to drink a glass or two more than their neighbours.

It's interesting that 14 of the globe’s top 15 nations for wine consumption are in Europe, along with Uruguay.

It seems that new shopping centre is going to be built in Mokosica, 7 kilometers away from Dubrovnik, in October. Željko Raguž, the deputy mayor, has published that information on his Facebook profile.

He wrote that he was on the meeting with Agrokor, a company that will build the centre, and got a warranty that they will start the construction after the summer season. The idea is that shopping centre will have two floors and a parking lot, supermarket and places to socialize. Currently they are sorting out the paperwork to get a permit, but deputy mayor is sure that there will be no problems and that the construction will start in October.

The Dubrovnik Times and the renowned Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra have joined forces to offer the chance to experience a magical concert in Dubrovnik.

On Tuesday the 24th of May the celebrated Russian violinist Dmitry Sinkovsky will perform in the Sponza Palace, when apart from performing the violin he will also take the role of artistic director of the Chamber Orchestra of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. The performance starts at 9pm.

It will be a magical evening in Dubrovnik and we have two tickets, kindly donated by our friends at the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra.

To enter all you need to do is “Like” this post on our Facebook account and send us your details via email – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Airbnb is an American start up launched seven years ago and according to some assessments valued at more than $25 billion. Entering the global tourist market Airbnb seriously disturbed already shaken systems of giant hotel chains trying to get its piece of the pie. The Airbnb service is distinguished by its simplicity for users, low provisions for renters and is open for all rental categories (houses, apartments, rooms, castles, tree houses, boats, sofas...).

Airbnb is growing very fast and is already a real hit in Croatia. In the first six months of 2015 more than 400,000 foreign tourists booked their accommodation in Croatia using Airbnb service.

The statistical figures are even more impressive in comparison with the largest cities in world. There are 55,000 placed advertisements in Croatia. Split is the biggest hit among our cities with 14,000 placed ads on the Airbnb website followed by Zadar with 7,000 ads and then Pula and Dubrovnik with little more than 5,000 placed ads.

At the same time San Francisco offers 9,700 ads, Athens 6,300 ads, Stockholm 6,000 ads and Venice 4,600 placed ads. The largest number of guests using this website service to book their holidays in Croatia are from Great Britain, Germany, France, USA and Italy.

‘Croatian way of E-mobility‘ is the event organized by the City of Dubrovnik in collaboration with DURA (City of Dubrovnik Development Agency) that will show most modern electric vehicles, connected with infotainment, as well as the couple of surprises. The event will take place on Friday at 11 am on Stradun.

The use of energy is the basic prerequisite of permanent growth, sustainable development and the well-being of modern society, so the great majority of developed countries and cities focused their policy on sustainable energy.

The City of Dubrovnik, as well as Dura, want to show the citizens and visitors of Dubrovnik the advantages of using electric vehicles.

Jai Waetford, young Australian recording artist and actor is enjoying his time in Dubrovnik. That's visible on the photo that he's shared with his fans on Twitter and Instagram and got many reactions.

This young superstar came third on the fifth season of The X Factor Australia. He subsequently signed with Sony Music Australia and released his debut single "Your Eyes", which peaked at number six on the ARIA Singles Chart. Waetford's self-titled debut EP was released in December 2013 and peaked at number 21 on the ARIA Albums Chart. He joined the Australian soap opera Neighbours on May the 2nd as Angus Beaumont-Hannay.